Manufacturing

Pininfarina is a leader in the production of niche vehicles. Its approach to production is based on team-building, flexibility and interchangeability. Apart from the Italian plants of Grugliasco, San Giorgio and Bairo, dedicated to the production of vehicles for Alfa Romeo, Ford and Mitsubishi, Pininfarina Sverige produces the C70 at the Udevalla (Sweden) facility. On the whole more than 1,900 employees are dedicated to manufacturing activities.

Pininfarina plays a leading role on the market of ever more popular “several cars in one” fitted with revolutionary, latest generation retractable roofs.

“Open top” cars have always tickled motorists’ imagination and have always been a great success with the public. Pininfarina has always interpreted this theme very successfully, playing a significant role in promoting the popularity of cars of this type. In fact, more than 70 % of the million cars produced by Pininfarina in its history are convertibles or roadsters; what better confirmation of the company’s unswerving vocation to developing this type of vehicle design.
Pininfarina’s specific expertise, permitting effective integration of styling and industrial aspects, has played a major role in achieving this goal and in turning out legendary vehicles. It has applied this unequalled know-how in particular to retractable roof systems in order to constantly propose innovative concepts.
The roof is the component that distinguishes an open-top vehicle from a sedan and, having to comply with the requirements of an ever more demanding market, it has become increasingly complex in time.
Customers now want much more than feeling the wind in their hair; today, they are looking for a versatile, complete vehicle, uncompromising in all conditions of use and above all with the same safety standards as a conventional vehicle. This is why roof construction technology has evolved in leaps and bounds in the last few years: from soft tops to two- or threepiece hard tops in order to cater, case by case, to specific needs.
Pininfarina has refined its experience incorporating this in each of these solutions, acquiring specific expertise of roof systems and reinforcing its knowledge as regards fitting the roof on the vehicle, as reflected in the Alfa Romeo Spider, Mitsubishi Colt CZC, Volvo C70 and in a few months’ time, the Ford Focus CC, all engineered and produced by Pininfarina and all with forefront roof systems.
As driving comfort of this type of vehicle must be guaranteed with the top up or down, this has triggered constant research into various individual characteristics such as rigidity of the body, own frequencies, optimization of weight, aerodynamics, setting of the suspensions and many other features that – although unknown to the public at large – all play a decisive role in creating a top quality product that can be effectively used in both configurations.
However, creating a successful product entails much more than simply “inventing it”; it must become a reality, be industrialized and produced. It is in this complex industrial integration of the roof and vehicle that Pininfarina excels, following up all the phases of product engineering and also those linked to the production process. It is therefore essential to design the production lines, to study tolerances and to establish a cohesive method of fitting the roof on the vehicle able to guarantee the typical production quality of an industrialized product: this is where Pininfarina’s exceptional experience comes into play.